11-05-2003 -- Gentry, Darlene -- Arrest -- News Release

Trusted Bank Employee Charged with Stealing $ 5 Million from Banker; Allegedly Spent it on International Travel, Real Estate, Range Rover, Artwork and More

NEWARK - The former assistant to a bank executive was arrested today in Nevada on a criminal complaint charging her in New Jersey with embezzling more than $5 million from her former employer's personal accounts and evading income taxes on the stolen proceeds, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Darlene Gentry, 53, formerly of Princeton, West Windsor and Middletown, New Jersey, allegedly spent the money on financing of three homes, lavish shopping sprees, extensive international travel for her and others, artwork, a Range Rover and more, as described in detail below. The complaint charges Gentry with mail fraud and tax evasion for the period from 1995 through 2001, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Rabner.

Gentry, who now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, was arrested today at the office of her current employer, First American Title Co., and was scheduled to make an initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Las Vegas at 2 p.m. It is expected that Gentry will be ordered to return to New Jersey for an appearance in federal court in Newark on Nov. 19.

"The scale of the theft alleged in this case is stunning and the greed hard to fathom," said Christie. "To say this woman was living the good life - on someone else's money - is a major understatement."

According to the Complaint, Gentry was employed by United Jersey Bank and then Summit Bank, both in Princeton, starting in 1983 as a secretary and later vice president and assistant to a bank executive (the "banker"). Among other things, Gentry handled various business and personal affairs of the banker, who gave her power of attorney over personal accounts and authorized her to sign checks to pay the banker's personal expenses. Gentry was also responsible for reconciling the accounts over which she had power of attorney.

The Complaint alleges that from at least as early as 1995 to 2001, Gentry defrauded the banker by writing checks on the banker's personal accounts, and withdrawing money from those accounts, to pay her own personal expenses. During this period, Gentry is charged with embezzling more than $5 million from the banker.

As part of the scheme, the Complaint charges that Gentry obtained treasurer's checks to pay her personal expenses. She wrote checks on the banker's account made payable to Summit Bank or United Jersey Bank, negotiated the checks at the bank, and then obtained bank treasurer's checks payable to a third party for the same amount. Gentry then transmitted the treasurer's checks to credit card companies and vendors to use for her own personal expenses. At times, Gentry allegedly wrote false notes on the checks to conceal her scheme.

Gentry also wrote checks on the banker's account made payable directly to third parties to fund personal expenses. In addition, Gentry wrote checks to cash totaling more than $900,000 on the banker's account. She gave some of the cash to the banker, as requested. The Complaint alleges that, unbeknownst to the banker, she kept the majority of the money for her own use.

The Complaint alleges the following expenditures made by Gentry with the banker's funds:

• From 1995 through 2001, Gentry paid more than $1.7 million to American Express for her credit card bills, writing checks from the banker's account on more than 90 occasions. For example, a check dated Nov. 15, 2000 in the amount of $70,000, drawn on the banker's personal account, was made payable to Summit Bank. Summit Bank issued a treasury check for that amount the same day. On Nov. 16, 2000, $70,000 was credited to Gentry's American Express account.

• On 10 occasions in 2000 and 2001, Gentry paid more than $58,400 to Chase Manhattan Bank toward a credit card account she maintained.

• On 17 occasions from 1997 through 2001, Gentry paid more than $60,000 toward a Discover card account maintained by a third individual.

• Credit card statements for these accounts reveal that Gentry and the other individual charged purchases totaling more than $1.9 million. The items purchased included artwork, jewelry, clothing, home furnishings, computer equipment, more than $11,000 in shipping costs, more than $97,000 in Macy's charges, and more than $169,000 in Bloomingdales charges.

• Gentry also purchased three homes in West Windsor, Princeton, and Middletown, New Jersey, in 2000, using in part more than $850,000 in funds belonging to the banker. She told a real estate broker assisting her that she was independently wealthy from a bequest from her grandmother, and that she had a trust fund funded with "tobacco" money. Gentry further stated that she was a collector of art and wanted to display her artwork in the homes she purchased.

• From at least 1995 to 2001, Gentry paid for costly vacations for herself and others. She wrote checks totaling more than $600,000 to Kriegner Travel Services and also charged more than $75,000 on her American Express card accounts on behalf of Kriegner. Records from the travel agency confirm that Gentry made arrangements for herself and others for travel to Japan, Brazil, Mongolia, China, and elsewhere. For example, in September and October 2000, Gentry and eight others traveled to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania. The land portion of the trip cost $182,879. Gentry wrote a check dated Sept. 1, 2000 on the banker's account to Kriegner Travel Services for $186,204. In addition, in March 2000, Kriegner made travel arrangements for nine individuals, including her relatives, to Walt Disney World in Florida. Gentry wrote a check on the banker's account to Kriegner for $27,212.79, dated Feb. 18, 2000, for that trip.

• Gentry purchased a 2000 Range Rover from Land Rover of Princeton in 2000, with $76,999 of the banker's funds.

• From 1997 to 2000, Gentry paid more than $285,000 to Matteo & Co., in Princeton, a supplier of home furnishings and designer services. Records from Matteo confirm that Gentry purchased furniture, fabrics, and design services from the company. For example, an invoice dated May 15, 2000 reveals that Matteo purchased merchandise in Paris for Gentry, which cost $76,230. Listed on the invoice is a $40,000 deposit applied to the account on March 30, 2000, traced to the banker's funds.

• Sundry other expenditures: $17,000 for installation of an air conditioning and heating system at a property Gentry owned in Princeton; $16,686 for bath fixtures; $10,000 for architectural services on properties Gentry bought with the banker's funds; $18,220 for custom art framing and $100,000 to an art gallery.

• The Complaint also alleges that in 2001, Gentry operated her own company, Wanderings Trading, Co., Inc. Gentry's business attempted to sell artwork on consignment to Gallery Domani of Red Bank, New Jersey. In January 2001, Gentry paid the owner of Gallery Domani $50,000 for various personal expenses, using the banker's funds. Also in 2001, Gentry paid $8,000 to Don Verile, who provided catering services for a party at The Art Gallery in Red Bank.

• In connection with her art business, the Complaint charges that Gentry paid more than $13,000 to All Ways Forwarding for freight charges and customs services for shipping wood carvings and furniture. Another $15,000 was paid to Jagro, a customs broker and freight forwarder, which billed Gentry for freight and service charges in connection with two 20-foot containers shipped to Port Newark from Cape Town, South Africa. Jagro's records list scores of shipped items including statues, masks, bronze heads, musical instruments, and carved chairs.

• In a bank loan Gentry applied for in 2000 to be used for working capital, renovations and equipment purchases related to the start-up of Wanderings Trading, Gentry reported that the business had an inventory of $800,000.

The Complaint alleges that Gentry failed to declare the following amounts of money she embezzled on her federal tax returns: tax year 1996 - more than $200,000; tax year 1997 - more than $300,000; tax year 1998 - more than $650,000; tax year 1999 - more than $850,000; tax year 2000 - more than $2.2 million; tax year 2001 - more than $1.1 million.

Gentry faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the mail fraud charge, and up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine on the tax evasion charge.

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the U.S. District Judge to whom Gentry's case is assigned will determine Gentry's actual sentence based on a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense and the defendant's criminal history, if any.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Under Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

A criminal complaint is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Christie credited Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation section, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia J. Haynes, Postal Inspectors with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Martin Phanco, and Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Louie F. Allen, for developing the case against Gentry.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Rabner, Chief of the Criminal Division.

-end-

Defense Attorney: Kevin Carlucci, Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender Newark